Thrifty Thursday: Less is More this Christmas! (Guest Article)

     I thought I'd like to share this post from Living on a Dime. We're about to hit December, so holiday shopping will be full-throttle (for those of us that don't do our shopping throughout the year). So, I figured some of this advice would come in handy. ;-)
     And if you like what you read here, make sure you check out Living on a Dime and maybe sign up for their newsletter for great frugal tips all year long!

Less is More This Christmas!

by Tawra Kellam
http://www.livingonadime.com/

After laying down my last women's magazine telling me how to be less stressed during the holidays, I'm even more confused and stressed then ever. On one page I'm told to take time for myself and indulge in a lovely spa bath. As I turn the page, I'm told to give all my friends and family homemade ornaments. Then there are articles telling me how not to gain weight at Christmas parties. Isn't that like telling a three year old to not get dirty while making mud pies?

To top it all off (and the part I like the best) is after they tell us how to get rid of stress and not gain weight, they give us 10 pages of recipes for Christmas cookies made with real butter and cream that are decorated so elaborately in the pictures that it probably took a trained kitchen staff of 10 a week to make one cookie.

Doesn't anyone live in the real world anymore? If you are like me and can't stand that kind of stress, try some of these Christmas ideas from www.LivingOnADime.com to help you have a relaxed and Merry Christmas.

• Don't over-spend - It may be tempting to fixate yourself on the sparkling look in little Johnny's eye when he sees that $300 play car under the tree. Advertising people are really good at feeding many parents' fantasies of their children thinking that mom and dad are the peaches and cream for shelling out the cash and looking fondly back on the moment for the rest of their lives. In reality, most kids have lost all interest in that particular toy long before the credit cards are paid off.
  When we were growing up, my mom pulled out all of the stops at Christmas to make it as wonderful for us as she possibly could. The funny thing is that now that we are grown, the things we remember the most fondly are Mom's red jello salad (made with red hots - yummy!) and sitting together and reading the Christmas story before opening our presents. I can't remember what presents I received, but I always look back fondly on the Christmas story.
• Do a few things well - Instead of trying to do everything and ending up depressed with how it all turns out, focus your energy on a couple of things that are the most important to you. You may be tempted to extravagantly decorate every room in your house, but if you don't have the time or energy, focus on one room, like a living or family room. If your entire house is beautiful but you have to go see a therapist when it's all over, the romantic mystique will be lost. Trust me, I know about this one from personal experience.
• Limit activities - Think of the holiday season as triage for activities. Don't commit to do too many things. One or two parties during the holiday season will make you get all tingly in that "It's a Wonderful Life" kind of way. One or two parties a week may send you over the edge, especially if you have kids. (Refer to my therapist comments above.) This also applies to all of those appealing looking activities around town like Victorian Christmas events, Christmas celebrations at the zoo or winter carnivals. One or two can be a lot of fun, but too many will ruin the fun.
• Limit cookie baking - Don't try to make 15 different kinds of cookies like Martha. She may look like she is super woman, but did you know she has a lot of people that help her? How much help do you get with your baking? I mean real help, not your five year old who makes everything twice as difficult for you. This is great for grandma, but you have to see your daughter every day and grandma can send her back when the house is sufficiently covered in flour. Again, pick your two or three top favorite cookies to bake and celebrate the fact that you had few enough priorities that you remembered to put the sugar in them.
  Everything doesn't have to be homemade. I know that we advocate making your own stuff, but Marie Callendar's makes some great pies that you can pass off as homemade if you want to soothe your guilty Martha Stewart conscience. In 20 years, your kids will look fondly back on it as the best pie they ever had. But seriously, if you are making things homemade just to save money, remember that some things like candies and pies are often more expensive to make homemade, especially if you cut your finger while slicing the apples. Don't ask me how I know, just trust me on this one.

These aren't the only things you can do to reduce your stress, but if you stick to doing a few things well, you can truly relax and enjoy the season with your family. In the end, they would rather have fond memories of their time with you than memories of how strung out mom was after she burned the cookies.

Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!

Festive Friday: Halloween on a Dime

     Are you planning a Halloween party? Well, here is a list of inexpensive and creative ideas from Living on a Dime. Some of these can even be used for Halloween dress-up, like the face paint and fake blood.

     Additional ideas are in the Halloween on a Dime e-book. Hope you get some inspiration from all these ideas and throw a "killer" party!
     And to check out some of their other e-books, you can go here! They also have a new e-book, Homemade Christmas, at an introductory price of 99 cents through Octber 23!

Homemade Halloween Make-up Recipes and Games
by Tawra Kellam

The average American family spends over $100 per year on Halloween goodies. As your kids drag you through aisles full of ghosts and goblins, the scariest thing about Halloween is threatening to leave bite marks in your pocketbook. No wonder so many moms flee screaming from the store... It can be much less expensive and a lot more fun to devise your own chilling creations. Here are a few tips that you can use to stave off the greenback gremlins and exercise your creative muscle. It won't hurt a bit! These and other free frugal tips are available at www.LivingOnADime.com.

Face Paint

1 tsp. corn starch
1/2 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. cold cream
food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in an old muffin pan and you are ready to paint. This amount makes one color.

Fake Wound

1 Tbsp Vaseline
tissue
cocoa powder
2-3 drops red food coloring

Place Vaseline in a bowl. Add food coloring. Blend with a toothpick. Stir in a pinch of cocoa to make a darker blood color. Separate tissue. Using 1 layer, tear a 2x3 inch piece and place at wound site. Cover with petroleum jelly and mold into the shape of a wound. The center should be lower than the sides. Fill the center with the red petroleum jelly mixture. Sprinkle center with some cocoa. Sprinkle a little around the edges of the wound to make darker.

Fake Blood- Mix 2/3 cup white corn syrup, 1 tsp. red food coloring, 2-3 drops blue food coloring to darken and 1 squirt dish soap (helps blood to run well).

Abrasions -Dab brown, red and black eye shadow on area. Apply blood over area with cotton balls. Use comb to gently scratch area in one direction. Apply cocoa or dirt over wound with cotton balls.

Black Eye - Apply red and blue eye shadow to depressions around eyes.

Bruises - Rub red and blue shadow over bony area to simulate recent bruises. Blue and yellow eye shadow to create older bruises.

Look Old - Cover face with baby powder. Draw dark lines on your skin for wrinkles. Smooth edges to blend. Cover again with baby powder. Add baby powder to your hair to create gray hair.

Deviled Eyeballs - Make deviled eggs. Add a green olive with pimento in the center for an "eyeball".

Radioactive Juice- Mix equal parts Mountain Dew and blue Kool-Aid

Toxic Juice- Add some green food coloring to lemonade for a spooky color!

Brains- Scramble eggs with some green, yellow and blue food coloring

Bloody Eyeballs- Boil cherry tomatoes 30 seconds. Allow to cool; then peel skin.

Goblin Hand- Freeze green Kool-Aid in a rubber or latex glove, float in punch.

Use the tape from old cassettes or black yarn to make spider webs.

Use cotton balls stretched out for small spider webs.

Glass Jack-o-Lantern- Outline a pumpkin face on a spaghetti or pickle jar with black paint. The paint around the outside of it with orange paint. Place a candle inside for a jack-o-lantern.

Halloween Guess It Game

In this game, you challenge the participants to reach into mystery boxes filled with creepy things and try to guess what each item is. The person with the most correct answers wins the game. An example is if you want them to guess "grapes", you might try to confuse them by saying, "I think it's eyeballs..."

Cut a hole in the top of a shoe box or laundry box for each item to be used. Cover the box with black spray paint. Decorate each box with pumpkins or spiders for a more festive flavor. Place the following items inside, one per box. Be sure to place enough of each item so the guests can adequately "feel" the guts.

Eyeballs - grapes or peeled cherry tomatoes

Intestines- Cooked Spaghetti

Skin- oil a piece of plastic bag

Brains- scrambled eggs

Hair- an old clown wig

Bones- thoroughly washed chicken bones placed in some sand

Vomit-chunky salsa

Fingers-hot dogs cut into finger sized pieces

Teeth- corn nuts, pine nuts or popcorn

Have a Pumpkin Hunt

Hide mini pumpkins like you would Easter Eggs. Let the kids find and decorate them. For small children use glue sticks with construction paper cut-outs for decorations.

Edible Slime

Pour lime gelatin into a glass bowl. After it is partially set, add gummy worms. Chill until lightly set. Then serve slopped all over the plate.

Bloody Popcorn- Add red food color to melted butter and pour over popcorn.

Freeze gummy worms in ice cubes and add them to drinks. Cut gummy worms in half if needed.

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!

Festive Friday: Monster Hands

    I came up with this for "moster hands" last year when trying to think of a creative Halloween snack to make with some "Twinkie" snack cakes I had. Read the rest of this post.

Festive Friday: Simple Paper Owls

     Check out these cute paper owls! All you need is a toilet paper tube, a few cupcake papers and some tape. And they make super-cute fall decorations! Read the rest of this post.

Inexpensive Ways To Decorate Easter Eggs

     Article from http://www.LivingOnADime.com

     OK, so the kids noticed on the calendar that Easter is approaching and they want to make a huge production of dying eggs. In the past, the little stickers you bought at the store sufficed, but now they want the real thing. Here are some old standards with a few new ideas for you from http://www.livingonadime.com/ .

     Before you decorate Easter eggs, cover the entire table with newspaper. Keep a huge roll of paper towels or rags handy for messes. Have each kid wear one of dad's old (now disposable) tee shirts. To make egg stands, cut toilet paper roll cores into one inch cylinders and use for egg stands. Decorate with stickers or paint.

     Decorating eggs: The traditional method.

Hard boil eggs. Fill several mugs with boiling water and add 1-2 tsp. vinegar. Place a few drops of desired food coloring in each mug. Place eggs in mugs for several minutes until the eggs reach the desired shades. Remove with a spoon. Place on a paper towel to dry. When dry, polish with a small amount of shortening on a paper towel. Buff until glossy.

     You can draw or write on the eggs with a light colored or white crayon before dipping. The drawing will remain white after the egg is dipped. To clean out the mugs, put a little bleach water in the cups and soak for a few minutes.

Glitter Eggs- Place 1 tablespoon each of glue and water in a cup. Stir the mixture and then paint the eggs with it. Sprinkle with glitter. This can also add sparkle to already dyed eggs!

Crepe Paper Eggs- Wet a white or dyed egg. Dab torn pieces of colored tissue paper or pieces of pretty colored napkins on the eggs. When the paper dries, the paper falls off and leaves the color behind on the egg.

Decoupaged Easter Eggs - Tear small pieces of wrapping paper, napkins, stickers, or clip art. Mix equal amounts of glue and water. Paint egg with glue mixture. Place paper on top and then cover with more glue mixture. Let dry.

Spotted Eggs- Place 1 tsp. of cooking oil in dye. Dip the egg. The oil will cause the dye to make an irregular pattern on the egg.

Waxed Eggs- Dip a portion of the eggs in melted paraffin or candle wax. Then dip them in the dye. Remove from dye. Dry and peel off the wax. The egg will be white on one half and colored on the other half. You can also dip in dye before waxing to get two colors.

Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts

This post has been moved. You can now view it HERE.

Valentine's Day on a Dime (free ebook)

     Here is an article on inexpensive Valentines Day ideas from Living on a Dime. To go along with this, they are currently offering their Valentine's Day on a Dime e-book for free. I'm not sure how long it will be free, so be sure to download your copy ASAP. There are some really great ideas in there, as well as in their other books. 

Valentine's Day On A Dime
by Tawra Kellam
http://www.livingonadime.com/

Using a little imagination, you can make your Valentine's day a little more fun and a lot less expensive. If you want to add a little personalized romance or if you don't have the time or money to buy all the pre-made things in the store, here are some ideas to help you make the day special.

For The Kids:

• My mom always made a great but inexpensive Valentine's Day treat for us. She would take construction paper and cut a big heart out of it. (About 8x10 inches). She would staple the edges together and write our names and an I love you on the outside. Then she would fill the heart with candy, purchased on clearance after Christmas. It was very inexpensive but we loved it!
  
• Have a Valentine's Day treasure hunt. Leave little notes around with the last one leading back to the kitchen table with a heart full of candy.
  
• Leave sticks of red gum in their Valentine's Day cards.
  

For The Lunches

• Make heart shaped Valentine's cookies. Cut the kids (or hubby's) sandwiches with a heart shaped cookie cutter. Add a few Valentine's chocolates and put a note in red with a big heart on their napkin.
  
• Serve anything red for the day. Serve red Jello, red pudding, red apples, toast with strawberry jelly, tomato soup, red applesauce, red Kool-aid, strawberry milk, or red frosted cookies. Use powered food coloring from the cake store to get the deepest shade of red. Serving all red things at a meal will really have wow factor even if it is something as inexpensive as red jello and tomato soup.
  
• Make red heart shaped cupcakes. Make cupcakes as usual but place a marble down the side of the muffin tin between the muffin tin and each cupcake cup. This will make heart shaped cupcakes.
  
• Make hearts out of chocolate chips in each of your pancakes.
  

Things To Do With Or For Your Honey

• Mail your pre-addressed and stamped Valentines to Loveland, Colorado and they will postmark them and mail them for you. Send them to: Postmaster, Valentine Re-mailing, 446 E. 29th St., Loveland, CO 80538
  
• Make a treasure hunt for your spouse. Start by mailing or e-mailing him the first clue. Then leave clues all over the house, yard, car or his office telling him where to find the next clue. End the hunt by making a picnic in the back yard or going to a park for a picnic. Use your imagination and have fun. The simple things are the ones people remember.
  
• Go to a bookstore together and enjoy the silence and browse. Get a cup of coffee and make a date of it.
  
• Celebrate Valentine's Day AFTER Valentine's day. Everything is half off.
  
• Mail a love letter to your hubby's work.
  
• Send your spouse a sexy email message.
  
• Leave "Why I love you" message all over the house. Buy a package of the cheap Valentines. Leave a message on each one and hide them all over the house for your honey. They will get to enjoy the gift for months!
  
• Use lipstick to make hearts and love notes on the rear view mirror, car windows, bathroom mirror or windows of the house. Leave a kiss on his napkin for lunch or dinner.
  
• Make a bunch of hearts out of construction paper. Put a love note on each one. Paste them all over the front door or car before your hubby or kids come home from work.
  
• If you don't have money to go out, have a picnic on the floor. Use some candles and lay a soft blanket on the floor. Put on some soft music and have a romantic Valentine's dinner on the floor. Use some white Christmas lights for additional romantic lighting!
  

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt, by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Coconut Bon bons and White Chocolate Pretzels

     This past week I've been working on all kinds of goodies, most of which have been given away (or eaten :-P). But I saved the best for last, since these are what we're taking with us to Florida. On Friday I made coconut bonbons and yesterday I made white chocolate covered pretzels and these are super-important holiday traditions for us. :-D Don't they look yummy, all ready to go? Put them in a nice little tin or colorful container and they make great, inexpensive gifts, too, and I don't know who doesn't love receiving them!

Coconut Bon Bons

     These are great for that chocolate craving. Yes, it had coconut in it, but even my dad, who hates coconut, got convinced to try one and said it was pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of coconut in general, but I love these (as does everyone who's tried them...). Here is the recipe if you would like to try it out. 

Mix together: 

     2 lbs of powdered sugar

     1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter

     1 can of sweetened condensed milk

     2 cups of shredded coconut (I actually just used 1 14 oz package) 

     This will make a sticky mixture and you will need to chill it (preferably overnight) before rolling it into little balls. Even after chilling, your hands will get sticky when handling it. Place the balls on cookie sheets covered with wax paper. I also put each batch in the freezer for a few minutes before dipping chocolate. I'm usually multi-tasking in the kitchen. 

     Melt a box (8 oz) of Baker's semi-sweet chocolate on low heat with a 1 x 1 1/2 inch square piece of parafin wax, cut up or shredded for better melting. Roll the coconut balls one by one in the melted chocolate, coating the whole thing with chocolate then return it to the wax paper. You can use a toothpick or a utensil made for dipping chocolates. You may find you need to add more chocolate if you find you are running out. If you need to thin the chocolate a little, add Crisco, 1 teaspoon at a time till you reach the desired consistency. Don't add to much or it will be too runny! When the chocolates are cooled and the chocolate has firmed up, they are ready to serve! 

White Chocolate Pretzels

     These are even easier to make than the coconut bon bons and are perfect for that salty-sweet combo you sometimes crave. 

     All you need to do is melt one or 2 packages of Baker's white chocolate and dip small pretzels into it and lay it on wax paper to cool. You can add a little parafin wax to it to make it dry harder, if you like. Just like with regular chocolate, use Crisco if you need to thin it up. And keep an eye on it, because it tends to scorch more quickly than the semi-sweet chocolate. But it is pretty simple to do. Try it out and let me know what you think. :-)

My Yard Sale Jackpot

     Well Kay-Kay was sick this weekend. I thought she was getting better, since her cold seemed to be clearing up, but she got a fever on Saturday and even threw up late Saturday night (TMI, I know). I had to stay in with her all day yesterday. She didn't have a fever this morning, so it seems she's getting better now. 

     I did get to go yard saleing Saturday morning, while my husband kept the baby in and had a pretty good run. I spent under $30 and got a train table with train tracks, a pile of little boy clothes for my bundle of joy coming in February and this adorable hooded cape for my daughter. 

     I had a hard time getting her to stand still, so this was the best pic I could get of her in it. But she looks even more adorable in real life. And she loves Mickey and Minnie, so it's an added bonus that there's a Minnie Mouse head on it. And she seems to like wearing it and likes to look at herself in the mirror. 

     The train table was also an awesome deal. I never see train tables on craigslist for less than $50 and usually more. New these things cost in the neighborhood of $150 for the table alone (forget tracks). So when I heard they were asking $25 for the table and tracks, that was a pretty good deal. Even better, I managed to get it for $20. It has removable panels on top, so I was thinking about getting a piece of plexiglass to fit into the same place to make my own lightbox, something I had not heard of until I read about it on the blog The Mommies Made Me Do It. But it looks like there are all kinds of neat things to do with it and I can't wait to try some out with my little girl.

     Meanwhile, here's an article from Living on a Dime including a few ideas and recipes from their e-books Dining on a Dime and Gifts in a Jar. The Mint Chocolate Cookies in particular look especially yummy! I love mint and chocolate together.

Christmas On A Budget!
by Tawra Kellam
http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Between high gas prices and consumers' sense of a financial squeeze in a struggling economy, many people think that a nice Christmas is out of the picture this year. But I say "Not so!" Here are a few ideas to help make Christmas memorable without breaking the bank!

• Go Potluck! You buy the turkey -- Have everyone else bring the side dishes and drinks. Turkeys in our area are .59/lb this time of year. If you buy just the turkey, it will only cost you about $10-$15 to feed everyone for a large family gathering.
• Celebrate Christmas the week after Christmas. Take advantage of the after Christmas sales and plan your large extended family gathering for the week after Christmas. Besides being less expensive, it is unlikely to interfere with anyone else's Christmas plans.
• Don't give gifts or give inexpensive gifts to hairstylists, babysitters, teachers and others. I found several wonderful small scented jar candles on clearance for .25 each. I will put three of them in a small basket (purchased at the thrift store for .25) with some tissue paper, ribbon and nice note. A great gift for $1.25!
• Break up gift sets. If you find an item that comes in a gift set at Christmas, give parts of it to different recipients. This is great for bath or perfume sets.
• Yard sales and thrift stores equal great savings. You can find a lot of new or nearly new items for pennies on the dollar. For our son, we found a working telescope in the box. It cost $1.00, so we saved $24! He got what he wanted and we didn't have to take out a home equity loan!
• Make memories, not more junk. Most kids get more than plenty for Christmas from grandparents, aunts and uncles. If you can only afford one gift for your child, make it a memory! Wrap a note in a box with instructions for a treasure hunt.. Send your child all over the house with clues and then have the real gift sitting under the tree when they return. Simple, but a great memory for them!

Here are some great recipes to use for Christmas!

Mint Chocolate Cookies

2/3 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
2 cups flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Filling:

2-3/4 cups powder sugar
1/4 cup half and half cream
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 tsp. salt
Green food coloring

Cream butter, sugar then add milk and eggs. Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and chill for 2 hours until firm. Roll dough on floured surface about 1/8 inch thick Cut with 1-1/2 inch cookie cutter and place 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 5-6 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Cool on racks. Combine filling and spread on half of the cookies, then top with the other halves. Makes about 7 dozen.

(This recipe may not sound appealing with vinegar in the title but it really is yummy. watch a Christmas movie while eating the candy you made along with popcorn and cookies.)

Vinegar Taffy

2 cups dark corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
food coloring
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Continue cooking to 260 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in soda, vanilla and a few drops of food coloring. Beat until smooth and creamy. Pour into a buttered pan. When cool enough to handle butter hands and pull until light in color. Pull into long strips and cut into 1 inch pieces. Makes 8 dozen.

Herbed vinegars make great gifts especially if you want to give something different than the sweets most people get at this time of year. They're also good for those who have to watch their sugar. Don't forget the cooks in your life too!

If you're trying to make it in time for Christmas, you'll want to make it soon as it needs to age before it is used.

Herbed Vinegar

2 cup white vinegar
1 cup fresh herbs: basil, mint, dill, rosemary, chives or oregano (choose one)

Decide which herb you'd like to flavor your vinegar. Place the vinegar in a glass jar or bottle. Add herbs, seal and let steep for 2-4 weeks. The longer you let it steep, the stronger the vinegar. Remove herbs and put in 2 or 3 sprigs of the herb for decoration. Seal bottle with cork and then pour melted paraffin around the top and tie with a ribbon for gift giving. Makes 2 cups.

Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!